Elizabeth Swaney competes for Hungary during the Freestyle Skiing Halfpipe Qualification on day 10 of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games on February 19, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

How did average American skier Elizabeth Swaney make Hungary's Olympic team?

The 33-year-old, who holds a master's degree from Harvard, finished dead last in Monday's freeskiing halfpipe competition.

Author:
Tom Schad/USA TODAY

Published:
7:47 PM EST February 19, 2018

Updated:
7:47 PM EST February 19, 2018

Elizabeth Swaney, an American skier competing for Hungary, performed one routine trick and finished last in the women's freeskiing halfpipe competition in Pyeongchang on Monday, prompting questions about the Olympic qualification process.

International Ski Federation halfpipe and slopestyle judge Steele Spence told The Denver Post that Swaney reached the Olympics thanks in large part to a shortage of competitors and her consistency in attending events. The 33-year-old has regularly registered top-30 finishes in World Cup events simply because there weren't 30 competitors in the field.

"Sometimes girls would crash so she would not end up dead last," Spence told the newspaper.

Swaney, who holds a master's degree from Harvard, told multiple media outlets that her grandparents are Hungarian, which allowed her to compete for the country. She has previously participated in international skeleton competitions for Venezuela, explaining on a crowd-funding web site that her mother was born and raised there.

"I also dream that my performances help contribute to a greater sense of unity not only in Latin America but also throughout the world," she wrote on the site.

Swaney's best performance came in December, when she finished 13th out of 15 competitors at an event in China. On Monday, she finished more than 40 points shy of qualifying for the finals and 60 points shy of the event's leader after failing to attempt any tricks beyond a simple 180-degree turn.

"I didn't qualify for the finals, so I'm really disappointed with that. But I worked really hard for several years to achieve this," Swaney said, according to Reuters. "I have been focusing on my Olympic experience but also on the halfpipe here and trying to go higher each time and getting more spins in."

Hungarian Ski Federation on Elizabeth Swaney:"The situation was mainly caused by the qualification system and few participants. It is a fact that we have not seen Elizabeth in action the last year, we realised her level at the Olympics. She self-funded her preparation&qualifying"